I held an autographed copy of Dave Eggers's new book today. Drooled a little on the cover, where the first paragraph is ingrained. I also slathered over Zadie Smith's new book, The Autograph Man, for which I'm on the waiting list at the public library. Powell's has learned to bring out the mops when I make my Sunday pilgrimage. I found out that Zadie will be speaking at the Portland City Arts and Lectures series in November. So, my goal for the next few days is to convince one of my friends that he or she should spend the $23 to listen to the lecture. I actually don't think I'll have a lot of trouble.